Recurring Characters

ACFantasy

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What are the rules in having the same character appear in multiple stories?

I've noticed, for example, that Jim C Hines has used his superhero psychologist Jarhead in multiple stories, and Jody Lynn Nye has used the police officer with the squid alien in her stomach in multiple stories. And then, of course, there are novelists who also write short stories set in the same universe (e.g., Jim Butcher's Dresden Files short stories).

Is this something that a writer can just do--write multiple stories with a recurring character, for instance, and sub them just like they would any other work? Or does this run into problems with encumbered rights? Would a writer need to seek permission from Market A to have a character that appeared in a Market A story also appear in a Market B story? Would the writer need to disclose to Market B that the character was introduced in Market A? Or is this something that is generally not allowed except in special situations?
 
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Aggy B.

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There would only be an issue if a market were contracting some sort of serial rights or creative world rights.

Which they should not be. (In fact, a market that asked for those kind of rights would be one that made me run far and fast.)

I believe Milo James Fowler has published his Captain Quasar stories in a variety of markets without issue.

If you have a contract for a novel with a publisher they may ask to see other work created with the same characters, but don't typically restrict short stories featuring the same characters.
 

Neegh

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Your characters are yours to do whatever you wish with.
 

William Green

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I can't think of any places that would buying the rights to your characters. This is something that is more of an issue writing for film than books/magazines.

My favorite example is Roddy Doyle's Rabbitte family in the Barrytown Trilogy (The Commitment, The Snapper, The Van). 20th Century Fox made The Commitments and bought the rights to the character's names, so when The Snapper was made into a film, the family's name was changed to Curly. When the film of The Van was made, the character's name was changed again to Larry*. The name change really stands out since the same actor plays the father in all three films.

*I guess if they ever make a fourth movie his name will be changed to Moe.
 

gettingby

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I can't think of any places that would buying the rights to your characters. This is something that is more of an issue writing for film than books/magazines.

My favorite example is Roddy Doyle's Rabbitte family in the Barrytown Trilogy (The Commitment, The Snapper, The Van). 20th Century Fox made The Commitments and bought the rights to the character's names, so when The Snapper was made into a film, the family's name was changed to Curly. When the film of The Van was made, the character's name was changed again to Larry*. The name change really stands out since the same actor plays the father in all three films.

*I guess if they ever make a fourth movie his name will be changed to Moe.

I love Roddy Doyle! Just had to say that.

I totally understand wanting to reuse characters. Writing short stories, we don't get to spend as much time with our characters as we would writing novels. For me, though, every time I've tried to reuse a character, it hasn't worked. It's like they belonged in the story they were created for. In a new story, they end up being too different that they basically become a new character. That's just the problem I have. But I see nothing wrong with writers reusing characters. As a reader, I think it's great.
 

alexshvartsman

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There is a long and storied tradition of writers reusing characters and settings in their stories. They're 100% owned by the author, and not the magazine/editor. You can write 10 stories about the same protagonist and shop them to ten markets. All good!
 

eyeblink

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I can't think of any places that would buying the rights to your characters. This is something that is more of an issue writing for film than books/magazines.

My favorite example is Roddy Doyle's Rabbitte family in the Barrytown Trilogy (The Commitment, The Snapper, The Van). 20th Century Fox made The Commitments and bought the rights to the character's names, so when The Snapper was made into a film, the family's name was changed to Curly. When the film of The Van was made, the character's name was changed again to Larry*. The name change really stands out since the same actor plays the father in all three films.

*I guess if they ever make a fourth movie his name will be changed to Moe.

That could happen, as Doyle more recently published The Guts, which has Jimmy Rabbitte as an adult. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha is Doyle's only standalone amongst his adult novels, and I missed the opportunity at a Q & A to ask him if there might be a follow-up to that... (He's an entertaining and funny speaker, if you get the chance to hear him.)

There's a thread in Short Fiction about this - since I devised a southern UK commuter town, inspired by bits of the places I grew up in and live in now, so thought now I'd done that once, I might as well reuse it, and have built in overlaps between the two novels in my sig and the novella I wrote last year, which will be appearing in my collection quite soon. Each can be read entirely on its own, with the overlaps being little Easter Eggs for anyone who does read both.